Even unregistered PWDs will be vaccinated - Khairy

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has given an assurance that persons with disabilities (PwDs) who are not registered with the Social Welfare Department (JKM) would not be left out of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme.

Coordinating Minister for the programme Khairy Jamaluddin said now is not the time to talk about registration status as the government's priority is to ensure that the PwD group would also be vaccinated.

"We will leave no one behind. I have decided to make vaccination available to all PwD care centres, including those not registered with JKM.

"No action will be taken against unregistered centres, so they should not fear coming forward for vaccination," he said in a virtual conference on the immunisation programme with the PwD community today. The PwD community was represented by Senator Datuk Ras Adiba Radzi.

Ras Adiba said as at December last year, 52 PwD care centres in the country were not registered with JKM.

Based on a projection of 15 per cent of the country's population being PwDs, it would mean there are some four million unregistered PwDs as only 600,000 PwDs were registered with JKM, she said.

Khairy, who is also Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, said that under phase two of the national immunisation programme, mobile units had been sent to PwD care centres to vaccinate the residents.

He said other efforts to reach out to PwDs included setting up a vaccination centre at the Malaysian Association for the Blind in Brickfields and providing a 'calming room' for neurodiversity care centres to cater for vaccination of the autistic group.

Khairy said for the hearing-impaired, the Health Ministry was now holding engagement sessions with sign language interpreters to help convey the message on registration for vaccination.

He said there were also vaccination programmes for Orang Asli which covered PwDs, with teams going to their settlements, adding that the government was considering a call to vaccinate PwDs studying in institutions of higher learning or whose parents are working there.

On Ras Adiba's proposal for guardians of PwDs to be also given priority in vaccination, Khairy said this would be decided at a meeting on Thursday.

For people suffering from rare diseases, Khairy said they should go to special vaccination centres at hospitals to get advice from specialists before seeking appointments for vaccination.

-- BERNAMA